But I am glad it was not mine.
Monday was my son Nathan's birthday. An all around good reason to celebrate. But somewhat muted for him. You see Sunday night he lent his car to his older brother to run to McDonalds, less than a mile away, at about 10:00 Pm. Why he was running for food that late when I had just bought groceries is anyone's guess. Now some background to make this more interesting. Joe is a terrible driver. He has wrecked at least 3 cars, burned up the motors on two others, and wiped out on his bike, at least 4 times. He even hit a parked undercover cop's personal car with his motorcycle in a parking lot. Get the idea? When Nathan got his car last year, we told him, you do not loan your car out to friends, and you do not under any circumstances let Joe drive it. Ever. Now I shoudl say, this is not the first time Nathan let Joe borrow his car, but it is the last time for this car at least.
The story we got is, Joe is driving along, wearing his seatbelt, at a safe and reasonable speed, when he suddenly hears a pop, the car skids to the right, into a nearby ditch, hits the culvert and winds up facing the opposite direction. There is a dent in the windshield with blood and hair on it, he cut his lip (right on the stupid labret piercing),his entire left side is bruised, and he can't move his shoulder and arm very much at all. He calls Nathan, asking for mom. We hear Nathan ask, where are you? Mom is at the store, I'll call her. I am on my way. Those of us who heard this assumed that Joe ran out of Gas (Nathan did the same on Saturday morning) and Nate was taking him the gas can. Not so much. After a long period of no word from anyone, I call my darling wife. She says, hang on, I will call you back, and I say, just tell me what happened. She says, Joe totalled Nathan's car. Sometime later she came by the house to drop off whatever it was she had left for, and gives me a synopsis.
Long story short. Car, totaled. Joe, alive, but finally went to the doctor; possible broken clavicle, no work for a week. Nathan, no way to school or work, except to bum rides. Car gone, not even worth $100 to a junk yard. Another bummer is that Polly (I wanted to wait) had decided to give him his birthday present (cash from the family) on Friday since he was going to San Antonio to see his girlfriend. So, he has almost no money. You see, he has a good job, makes about 600 bucks a paycheck, and spends every last dime. So now he suddenly discovering that when you have no money for down payments, and no credit history, people don't just hand over car keys.
He is however being very kind to his brother about wrecking his car. And the funny thing is I wonder if that is indeed the unkindest cut of all. You see when you mess up and someone give syou heck about it, you can feel justified in being mad at them, and not having to deal with the consequences of your actions. However when someone is kind and understanding, sometimes that makes it harder, becuase then you have to deal with the awful feelings of guilt and such that come along with a big mistake. But then again, Nate also thought that insurance would provide him enough money for a new (used) car, or at least a down payment. Suprise! Not with just liability. But he did get off the hook for towing. At least he did not put on 500 dollar wheels and a thousand dollar sound system in a 2000 dollar car.
Actually a lot of interesting fallout has come of this. Polly has lost a lot of trust in these guys, and instead of trying to fix the situation, she is saying, your problem, not mine. Told you not to let Joe drive. Oh, and for the next foreseeable future, both boys paychecks go directly to Mom, who will dole out cash as needed, and by her determination of need is. May get interesting around here.
Anybody want a couple of post teenage boys? Cheap? They do work hard, when they are not banged up.
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